I'm going to warn you right off the bat... This chapter is going to catch ALL OF YOU OFF GUARD... It sure as hell caught Sane off guard...

Anyway, this chapter is kind of long, I made it long partially because... Well, mostly because this chapter is one of those big emotional ones, and two as a kind of 'Yo, I'm sorry I've been a lazy ass and haven't updated in a minute.'

I spent a lot of time learning how to be a Wyvern Rider. Once I started to get used to Ptera, and she got used to me, we ended up being quite the team. I started training with the other riders, and was even able to play some cool aerial game-things that kind of reminded me of basketball and soccer. The only thing I couldn't really get used to was how fast Ptera could fly. She would soar through the air so fast I felt like the G's would kill me half the time. After a day of aerial practice, my head would throb and I would crawl into bed exhausted. Tharja, surprisingly, helped. At night she would massage my head until I fell asleep. At first I was nervous with her doing that, but I eventually decided that even though Tharja was creepy as all hell, she wasn't the sexual deviant that she was portrayed as in fanfictions.

'Although, some of her relaxation methods I'm sure wouldn't go over well on daytime television.'

Lon'qu also spent a lot of time riding his Wyvern, which I found out through local gossip was named Lazsar, despite claiming he had no interest in becoming a Wyvern Rider. Tharja ended up returning to Ylisstol eventually, while I still remained in Ferox. Half of me was just wondering if I could stay there forever. I knew that eventually I would have to return to Ylisstol, but for now being in the frigid cold was appealing to me. Ptera didn't seem to mind the cold either, despite the fact she was cold blooded.

Being in Ferox also gave me a strange motivation to practice magic and swordsmanship. Soon I was better with a sword than some of Basilio's finest men, fine enough that when I challenged Lon'qu at sparring matches he almost seemed pleased that I asked. I even came close to matching him a couple of times, but he was still able to trounce me. Soon my sword was just as much an extension of me as my magic, and when no one was around I would practice with even more vigor; magic and blade and body twirling in a deadly dance that I'm sure was beautiful.

"Sane."

Lon'qu called quietly to me as I was putting away Ptera's harness. My head was pounding less than usual, a sign perhaps of my improvement.

"Hello Lon'qu." I said in response.

"I see you're done riding Ptera for the day."

"Yes."

He was wearing his normal clothes, sword hanging by his side. He looked somewhere over my shoulder.

"Care to spar?"

I nodded. He walked to the spot he had been looking and I followed. I picked up my sword as I went, and began my pre-practice ritual of looking over it for imperfections and testing the sharpness. Satisfied, I put my sword back in it's sheath until we reached a spot Lon'qu found satisfactory and I adopted a fighting stance.

"Prepare yourself!" Lon'qu shouted in warning, and began.

The two of us rushed forward and our swords met in a metallic ring. We followed up with a flurry of aggressive strikes, neither of us managing to get the upper hand. I decided to make a bold move and came at Lon'qu from the right, a side I normally wouldn't attack from. Lon'qu was caught off guard and I sent his sword into the ground. He tried to pull it out and I hit him hard in the ribs with the flat of my blade. His breath escaped him in a harsh gasp.

"Damn you..!" He hissed.

With a mighty yank the sword came out of the ground and he was back on the offensive. His attacks were even fiercer than before, and he was driving me back quickly. I lost my footing and fell hard on the snowy ground. My fall was rewarded with a sharp smack on each knee with the flat of Lon'qu's sword.

"Ow! You ass!"

I got up as fast as I could and grimaced from the pain in my knees. I knew that there shouldn't have been any lasting damage, so I paid no attention to the pain and tried to fight through it. He grinned.

"Don't like it rough?"

His tone made me shiver slightly.

"Cute."

We were quickly back in a furious exchange of sword strikes, the two of us equal. As we continued our exchange, I knew my blow to his ribs was slowing him down, just like his attacks to my knees were going to stop me if we continued much longer. I locked swords with him and stared into his eyes. I got as close to him as I could in hopes of unnerving him and smiled.

"You look like you're about to give up." I teased.

"The same could be said for you." He said stiffly.

He tried to push me back, but I held my ground.

"Oh no you don't..!" I hissed.

We continued to try to force the other back. Each passing second I felt my knees getting weaker.

'He's going to win... That punk is going to get the better of me again...!'

Suddenly, Lon'qu cried out in pain and stopped trying to force me back. I yelped and fell forward, taking him with me. Both of our swords flew harmlessly to the side and embedded themselves in the ground. The two of us crashed onto the ground. Lon'qu closed his eyes and groaned in pain. I was frozen, awkwardly on him. When he opened his eyes, he stared at me. A deep red blush washed across his face. A similar blush washed across mine as well and I quickly rolled off him and sprang to my feet.

"S-sorry!" I stammered.

I tried to walk away from Lon'qu, and was doing pretty well too, until my knees gave and I landed elbows first in the snow.

"Oh Goddammit..!" I muttered.

"Sane? Are you alright?"

I sat up and rubbed my elbows. Not only were they sore, but the palms of my hands were cut and the right hand was bleeding.

"Yeah... I've just got a couple scratches is all."

Lon'qu got to his feet and walked over to me. He held his hand out to me to help me up, then seemed to have second thoughts and instead knelt down to me. He looked at my hands. The blush was still on his face and he didn't seem to know what to do next. Finally, he slowly reached out and took my hand in his.

"You've cut yourself. It doesn't look bad, but you should probably clean this up when you get back."

"I figured." I said quietly.

I was too busy looking at my hands and feeling sorry for myself to realize that Lon'qu was reaching for my face. I didn't realize what his was doing until I felt him place his hand on my cheek and tilt my face up. My eyes went wide and I was about to pull away, but he quickly leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine.

'OHSHITWHATTHE*HELL*!'

I slapped Lon'qu harder than I've ever slapped anyone before and scooted back in the snow. He yelped in pain and grabbed his cheek.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"Why did you kiss me!?" I shrieked.

"I thought it was a good idea!"

"What were you thinking?!"

"Not that I was going to get slapped!"

I felt my heart trying to beat out of my chest.

'What the heck... That is not a thing... He...'

"Gods damn... A simple 'no' would've sufficed..."

I was still staring wide eyed at Lon'qu. I felt frozen to the ground, like I wasn't going to be able to move ever again. Lon'qu let go of his cheek and looked at me. A small cut opened up on his cheek where I hit him and a small trickle of blood leaked out.

"I didn't... Upset you did I?"

I looked at Lon'qu in shock.

"I... Hit you and busted open your cheek, and you're worried that I might be upset?"

Lon'qu wiped away the trickle of blood with the back of his hand. He stared at it for a moment before shrugging. We were both quiet for a long time before I cleared my throat and spoke.

"Why did you kiss me?" I said quietly.

Lon'qu didn't answer.

"Lon'qu?"

I moved closer to him and took ahold of his hands. He interlaced his fingers with mine and peered into my eyes. His own eyes flickered back and forth with rapid uncertainty. I felt my heart speeding up even more and broke his gaze. It got hard to breathe, and my head felt like I was stuck in the ring with Little Mac. I pulled my hands away and wrapped my arms around myself.

"I think I'm having an anxiety attack." I told him quietly.

Lon'qu scooted away and watched me carefully. I sat on the ground, the snow seeping through my pants and making me freeze. I still didn't move, I just tried to get myself under control.

"Are you alright?"

I nodded.

"You just caught me off guard is all..."

'Oh Lorde Jesus Sane, do you realize how lame you sound?'

Lon'qu stood up and brushed the snow off him. He then lifted me off the ground and held me up right.

"Lon'qu, you're just making it worse... I don't know how to respond to this..!"

"You relax." He said softly.

He was too close to me, his arms were wrapped too securely around me.

'You're supposed to be terrified around women, not want to snuggle them to death!'

I put my head against his shoulder, not because I was comfortable or to show him affection, but because I wanted to hide my face and distance myself from the man whose arms I was being held captive in. But he mistook my action for one of affection and placed on of his hands on the back of my head.

"Let go of me you incessant ass!"

I pushed him away from me and stormed off, back to Regna Ferox. When I got there, I must have been giving off one hell of an aura, because everyone stayed a good ten feet away from me. Not that I was complaining. I had made it all the way to my room before I realized that I left my sword out in the snow with Lon'qu. I mentally scolded myself, but wasn't in the mood to get it back. Instead I stayed in my room thinking about what happened between me and Lon'qu.

'Why am I so upset? It was just a stupid kiss, it's not like I haven't kissed someone before...'

I picked up a random book and tried to read it. The letters jumbled together and I couldn't tell where one word ended and another began.

'Well, technically that wasn't kiss, it was just some stupid experiment...'

"Bwah..."

I tossed the book aside and flopped down on my bed. It wasn't going to get dark for another couple hours, but I was just so emotional and confused I decided that the only thing I wanted to do was sleep.

I guess I fell asleep eventually. I remember staring at the door to my room one moment, then the next moment my eyes closed and when they opened again it was almost dark in my room. Moonlight was streaming in through a small part in the curtains in my room. I sat up in my bed and looked around. For some reason I was angry, angrier than I should've been considering I had a dreamless and peaceful sleep. I got out of bed, slipped on some shoes and left my room. I wandered the mostly empty halls without a specific destination in mind. I turned a corner and from farther down the hall saw Lon'qu, his Myrmidon coat gone, walking ahead of me. Either he didn't hear me approach, or he assumed I was another one of his Feroxi comrades and chose not to acknowledge me. He stopped in front of one of the doors, opened it, and stepped inside.

'That must be his room.'

Without my brain being aware of what I was doing, I walked towards Lon'qu's room and paused in front of the door. I felt my heart speeding up again and lifted a fist to the door. I rested my knuckles against the wood.

'What are you doing Sane?!'

My body tensed and I thought for sure I was going to have a heart attack. Everything spun and my head was pounding. I heard the sound of knocking without having realized that my body sent the signal to knock on the door. The door opened a moment earlier and a very cranky looking Lon'qu answered. He was confused to see me and seemed to be debating on weather he wanted to shut the door or not.

"Hello." I said quietly.

He nodded his head curtly.

"Hello."

I tried looking over his shoulder to see into his room, but between me being a midget and Lon'qu conveniently shifting so I couldn't, all I was able to see were the standard rocky walls.

"What do you want?" He asked with bite.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I hadn't realized I was here until I was... Here."

Lon'qu took a deep breath and stepped back from the door. He looked inside for a moment before looking back at me. I took the gesture as an invite inside and stepped into his room. He closed the door behind me and watched me as I looked around his room. It was similar to mine, almost a carbon copy in fact. The only differences I noticed were his bed looked more rugged, and the lone bookshelf he had was almost bare. He picked up a stone pitcher next to him and poured a glass of water. He handed it to me without a word and I accepted.

"Lon'qu... About earlier..."

I nervously swirled the cup of water in my hand.

'What the hell were you going to say to him Sane?'

"Um..."

I set the cup of water down before I spilled it. Lon'qu was looking at me, his expression unreadable. I could tell that he was uncomfortable, but I considered it a good sign that he hadn't either kicked me out or started turning red. In fact, he was awfully pale considering I was in his room.

'Why is he so pale?'

"I'm terrified of feelings... Like how you're scared of women. There's something wrong with me. I don't relate to things emotionally like normal people, I relate to it logically. When you kissed me... I couldn't find any logic at all so I... Broke basically."

I twisted my hands together.

"So, I didn't hit you because I'm mad at you, and if you're mad at me I completely understand..."

Lon'qu was quiet after I explained. Quiet enough that it made me extremely uncomfortable.

"Well? Do something!"

Lon'qu clenched his hands together and shifted his weight.

"Not mad huh?" He said painfully.

"Yeah."

Suddenly, Lon'qu grabbed me and pulled me against him. I yelped in surprise. He then brought his lips to mine and kissed me with more force than he had earlier. One of his hands made it's way to my cheek, the other snaked around to my back and held me in place. His grip wasn't restraining, I could easily shove him away, but in all honesty I didn't want to. I wrapped my arms around him and let him kiss me. When we parted, he lifted me up and sat me on a nearby dresser only to start kissing me again. I was lightheaded, and my heart was racing, but it was exhilarating. I couldn't think clearly, all I could focus on was Lon'qu and how kissing him felt. When he broke the kiss again, he held my face in both hands and looked at me with gentle eyes.

"Sane..."

I knew what was about to happen. And not just because I've read too many fanfictions.

"Lon'qu..."

He carried me across the room, carefully, like I was a fragile glass figure. In a way I was, but in a way, I wasn't. Lon'qu laid me down on the bed and hovered over top of me.

"I love you." He whispered.

Aaaaaaaaaaand cliffhanger! Because I'm evil. I'm not even going to say anything now, I'm just going to leave you with your feels.